


And then there was you

by hllfire



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Canon Disabled Character, Charles Xavier has a Ph.D in Adorable, Charles Xavier in a Wheelchair, Current Events, Erik is a Sweetheart, Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute, Neighbors, cursing, dont worry theyre on a safe distance from each other, quarantine fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:55:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 20,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24063925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hllfire/pseuds/hllfire
Summary: Erik is on lockdown, just like the rest of the world, not really caring that he's alone in his apartment, whitout communicating with anyone else face to face. That is, until his neighbor knocks on his door.
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
Comments: 184
Kudos: 270





	1. Erik

**Author's Note:**

> This is suposed to be a soft thing that I'll write in the middle of my other projects. I won't be making long chapters for this because I don't want to asjhd lmao But I hope you enjoy this! I will try to post weekly since it's a short thing, but I don't promise anything.

When the quarantine started, Erik was only mildly annoyed by it. The fact that he couldn't leave the house to take a jog everyday was one of the few things that made him mad at the world for spreading a fucking virus like that — quickly buying himself a facemask to be able to run at least one day of the week, always being careful with his clothes by washing them as he got home and taking a good and thorough shower everytime.

Other than that, the time spent at home was actually a blessing. He had four projects to hand over for work and the fact that he didn't need to go to his workplace anymore helped him concentrate without the bother of his workmates always making him too unfocused by trying to start a conversation with him. He had worked with those people for five years now, only really talking to Azazel — who won him over by never stopping to bother Erik, who eventually gave in — and Emma, purely out of necessity, and yet his other workmates insisted on trying to get him to socialize. Inside his house, he didn't need to go through that, although the group chat from work had been bothering him enough to consider leaving for the time being.

Thankfully, the neighbors on his building, who inevitably were also trapped inside their own apartments, were not noisy and everything seemed peaceful. Sometimes he would hear the sound of a song being played on the apartment below him, but it didn't take long for the person to turn the volume down and everything went peaceful again. He knew the upstairs neighbor played the drums, he had talked to Alex and his brother once in the elevator before the quarantine started, but they had a set of electric drums and it didn't bother him at all, which he appreciated very much. It was oddly calm for the state the world was outside the building.

He spent the first week of lockdown without any problems, actually finishing one of his projects and allowing himself leisure time, consisting in the remaining snacks that were in his kitchen and a Netflix marathon, as a reward for doing his job even if he had all the right to not do it. But, on Saturday, Erik was on his couch in his sleeping clothes — he wouldn't leave the house anyway, there was no reason for him to change and his sleeping clothes were very comfortable — when he heard a knocking on the door. What made him frown was the noise of the knocking, it wasn't the usual rapidly succession of knocks and instead sounded like something hitting the door quite lightly, each knock spaced one second from the other one. He got up once he heard it again, opening the door carefully and noticing that there wasn't a person by the door, and the noise was coming from a broomstick. He frowned again, this time properly opening the door and seeing who was knocking the broom against his door.

His front door neighbor was there, expression slightly embarrassed for knocking on Erik's door with a broomstick and very much away from Erik. Charles, he remembered the man's name to be Charles, was still under his own open door when he retreated the broom and cleared his throat.

"Sorry to bother," he said, british accent thick as he looked at Erik as if he was really sorry for knocking on Erik's door. "but I really had no one else to turn to and I need to ask you a favor."

Erik leaned against his doorframe, ignoring that he was in his sleeping clothes for the fact that Charles seemed to be on his sleeping clothes as well, checkered pants and loose crumpled shirt making him look as if he had just woken up, even if it was ten in the morning. 

"Sure, what is it?"

Charles hesitated, mouth closing into a thin line before he sighed and blurted the words out. "Would you please go to the grocery store for me? My food is running out and I… Well…"

It only took a second for Erik understand why Charles was asking him for that favor. Charles had a spinal cord injury for what Erik remembered from one of their brief encounters where they talked to each other, he was on the risk group for the virus thanks to that, and leaving the house for Charles could be much more dangerous, even if he had a facemask like Erik, considering that Charles would have to clean everything — including his wheelchair — in case he _did_ leave the house as a precaution, and Erik could imagine that it wouldn't be an easy task to do considering Charles lived alone. That also explained why Charles was so distant from Erik as they spoke and had knocked on the door with the broom. He looked ashamed to be asking Erik for help, and Erik quickly calmed his worries.

"Of course. Give me a list and I can make a quick run there. I have to stock up for the week as well."

Charles' eyes lit up at that, a small smile lifting the corners of his mouth as he nodded. "Thank you! I'm sorry to ask this from you, but my sister is in another town and couldn't help me with it…"

"It's alright, it's not a problem."

Charles smiled again, taking his broom and entering his apartment, not bothering in closing the door as he took a small notepad and started writing down something — probably his grocery list. Erik took the time the other man was writing to write down his own list of things he needed to get for himself and change his clothes. As much as he wanted to be home for the rest of the day and just rest in his sleeping clothes, he really didn't feel like he could turn down Charles' ask. Besides, it was an excuse to getting more snacks for himself.

He picked his facemask and put it on as he walked back to the door, seeing Charles already waiting on his own door for Erik to come back. He was about to walk over to the man to get the list when he saw Charles lean back on his own chair, urgent expression on his face as if to stop Erik. Right, Charles was afraid of the virus, and as much as Erik wasn't contaminated — as far as he knew — he refrained from getting closer, stepping back again and watching Charles blush in embarrassment for his reaction. Erik only kept a leveled expression.

Charles seemed stuck for a moment, not knowing how to hand him the paper without having to get close to Erik, when his blue eyes lit up with an idea and soon he was folding the paper. Erik only watched with amusement as Charles made a small paper airplane and threw it in his direction, catching the paper with a smile that was hidden by the facemask as he unfolded Charles' work to look at the items there. At the end of the list, there was a smiley face followed by a _'thank you!'._

"I can pay you by transferring the amount to your account." Charles said, arms crossing over his chest as he looked thankfully at Erik once again. Erik only nodded at the suggestion.

"Sounds good to me. Do you want my phone number in case you remember something?" Charles nodded, reaching for his pocket and taking his phone out, typing the number Erik gave him and saving his name there.

"Thank you _so much."_

"Not a problem. I'll be back shortly."

* * *

Surely enough, as Erik was in an alley of the grocery store looking for toothpaste, his phone dinged with a new text from an unknown number.

> I forgot to put peach jam on the list. :)
> 
> \- Charles

Erik replied with a thumbs up, smiling as Charles sent a smiling emoji and pocketing his phone again. Before paying for everything, Erik made sure to text Charles one last time to see if there was nothing else that the man had forgotten to ask for, and only going to the cashier once Charles answered that he needed nothing more.

Back in the building, Erik texted Charles once again to warn him that he was going up with the groceries and arriving at his floor and seeing the man already waiting with his door open and smiling gratefully at Erik.

"Let me clean these for you before I give you the groceries." Erik offered, seeing Charles smile once again, radiant expression on his face.

"I don't want to be a bother."

"Oh, don't worry. It's not like I have much else to do." he did, but he didn't mind helping Charles just this once more if it meant the man would smile at him again after all.

Erik blinked a few times, wondering where that last thought came from and quickly shook his head, pushing it away and opening his door to get inside his house, but leaving the door open so Charles could still see him.

"Are you sure?"

"I am." Erik replied, smiling under the facemask. "Besides, you can keep me company from the other side of the corridor as I do it."

Charles chuckled, a soft sound that hit Erik's ears like a song as the man's eyes seemed to get brighter with the idea of having someone to talk to.

"Alright." he nodded, head resting on his hand as he watched Erik sit down on the ground next to the groceries with a cloth and alcohol, searching for Charles' groceries. "But _do_ give me your bank account in the meantime, I did ask you for a lot of stuff and I know some of them were expensive."

"I get someone to talk to _and_ money?" Erik raised his eyebrows playfully, seeing Charles chuckle at his words. "Sounds like a good day to me."


	2. Charles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! So I decided to post this chapter already and this is Charles' POV of the first chapter. I was going to make the whole thing just from Erik's POV but someone on the comments asked me for Charles' POV for this and I thought this was a really good idea! So now it'll be a chapter from Erik's pov then one from Charles' (not always the same happenings, sometimes they'll be very different contents, this one is an exception).
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoy this one!

_"I could try to go, Charles-"_

"No, don't you dare Raven. You have to look after Kurt."

Charles held back a sigh after saying that, rubbing his eyes and trying to figure out what to do now that he was alone in the middle of a pandemic. He couldn't allow Raven to aid him now, not when she had a three month old baby to care for. He would have to deal with his food problem in some other way.

He thought for a moment about going by himself and trying his luck — he truly wanted to leave the house after a week of being confined to his small apartment with only Raven's voice through a phone as company a few hours of the day —, but the idea was quickly pushed back when he remembered how his doctor had advised him to stay home because Charles was vulnerable to the virus thanks to his disability, and Charles still loved his life way too much to do something like going out without a mask outside. He needed to buy a facemask quickly, and yet he wasn't even able to leave the house to do it.

 _"Charles, if I don't go, who'll help you?"_ Raven argued on the phone, clearly worried about him by the tone of her voice. _"I could bring you here, you could stay the rest of quarantine over at our house. I'm sure Azazel wouldn't mind."_

"No, Raven, I'm not gonna barge into your house and make you take care of me."

 _"You wouldn't be barging in, you twat, I'm inviting you!"_ Charles smiled at the insult, shaking his head and hearing Raven sigh on the other end. _"Unless you have a better idea, you coming here is the best option. You'd even get some time with your nephew that you love so much so he could barf over your cardigans again."_

"Kurt _did_ seem happy by staining my favorite clothes, yes."

He heard Raven chuckle fondly, smiling as well with the memory of the baby in his arms laughing happily right after having barfed all over Charles' favorite cardigan. He heard the small cooing noises coming from Raven's end, smiling even more as he heard Raven talking softly to her son that was probably in her arms at that moment. He did miss the little one, had been at least a month since he had last saw Kurt, and he wondered how long would it be until Charles could see him and his own sister again.

He wondered if accepting Raven's offer was a good idea, but knew at the same moment that it wasn't. Raven had a small house, almost the same size of Charles' apartment, which wasn't bad for one person, but with a baby and two other adults the space suddenly seemed cramped. Adding another adult that was dependent of a wheelchair to the mix wouldn't help. Besides, the layout of Raven's house wasn't exactly the best for someone with a disability — he still dreaded the different levels on the ground that divided the living room from the rest of the house, needing help from his sister or Azazel to go over it. Azazel was another negative point for Charles going there. He liked his sister's husband, had learned to like him at least, but they weren't exactly best friends and Charles was sure that he wouldn't like if Charles just intruded on their family life like this, even if he was Raven's sister and she was constantly inviting him over ever since they bought that house. No, Charles wouldn't go there, but he still needed a solution for his problems.

An idea crossed his mind as he looked at the door of his apartment, making him bite the inside of his lip. He had seen the front door neighbor leave his apartment after quarantine started to go to a jog — Charles had his door open that day since he was taking his trash out and ended up seeing him, his neighbor's clothes allowing Charles to make the guess that the man was going to exercise — and he wondered if he would be willing to help Charles out. He hated the idea of asking a man he barely knew for help just because he couldn't do his own groceries, but it felt better than what Raven was proposing there.

 _"Charles?"_ Raven called, making him focus again on his sister's voice. _"You still there?"_

"Yes, yes. Sorry. Listen, I'll call you later, ok? I might have found a solution for the grocery problem."

_"Charles Xavier, if you leave your apartment I will break quarantine just to beat your ass."_

"I'm sure you would, but that's not the case, don't worry."

After he finally ended the call with Raven, Charles tried to convince himself that asking for help was alright. His neighbor — Erik, his name was Erik — was a private man for what Charles had seen of him. They only talked a handful of times, sometimes exchanging a 'good morning' as they both left for work in the mornings and one Friday night at the building's elevator when Charles was heading up to his apartment after a night class he had given, when his neighbor entered the elevator with him, clearly drunk. Charles remembered Erik smiling down at him with a drunk expression that made Charles smile back in amusement, trying to hold back a laugh. They had exchanged a 'good evening' and Erik started to rock himself back and forth as the elevator went up, right before he told Charles that he wasn't drunk in a slurred voice.

"Sure, I believe you." Charles had said, still holding back his laugh and trying to be polite. Erik had nodded at Charles' words.

"Good. Because drunk, I'm not." Charles couldn't hold back the snort there, as much as he tried.

"Sure, Master Yoda."

There was a confused look in Erik's eyes after that but he didn't question anything since soon they were both leaving the elevator and entering their apartments.

There was nothing to make Charles believe that Erik would refuse his request or be rude to him, and Charles was kinda desperate for help at that moment as much as he hated asking for it, so he just sighed and decided that it was his best option. He opened his door, ready go to Erik's door across the corridor and knock, when he remembered again that Erik had left the house in the past days, which meant he could end up being contaminated by accident. His body shuddered slightly, making him hate himself for the fear he had developed of that virus, wondering what he could do to keep his distance from Erik when he saw a broom standing at the corner of his kitchen. He sighed once more in that morning, feeling ridiculous, but took the broom anyway to knock on his neighbor's door.

* * *

Charles had already transferred the money to Erik's account and he ended up indulging in a conversation with Erik as he watched how carefully his neighbor was cleaning everything placing Charles' groceries on a mat whenever he finished cleaning it and taking another item. He hadn't been able to talk to anyone face to face in a week now and just this small interaction made Charles feel renewed.

"So you're an genetics professor?" Erik asked, voice still muffled by the facemask. Charles nodded.

"Indeed. And you?"

"Engineer." Erik answered shortly, but Charles could see the pride in his grey eyes. "I'm still working from home. There's a few projects that I need to finish to send over to my manager."

"The classes are stopped but I'll probably have to start doing online classes at some point if things don't get better…" Charles sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. "I prefer to see my students' faces when I'm teaching but I guess I'll have to make do. At the moment I have nothing to do other than read articles and write some new ones with the free time."

"And that's nothing?" Charles smiled at the surprise in Erik's voice.

"It's already routine for me, and I usually have nothing to do when I'm not writing them. Television only talks about the virus now."

"What about Netflix?"

"I never know what to watch! When I decide I already got bored at the idea!" he raised his arms in the air, seeing the corners of Erik's eyes crinkle in a smile that was still hidden by the mask but clear in Erik's eyes.

"You're a complicated man, Professor Xavier."

"I guess you could say that."

They talked some more about the current events, a few jokes being shared here and there to try and lighten the mood before Erik finally finished cleaning everything and placed the groceries on a few clean bags, getting up and placing the bags in the middle of the corridor. Charles smiled at that, thankful that the man had understood his fear of contact at the moment, moving in his chair to take the bags and putting them inside of his house. He sighed, relieved with the knowledge that now he had enough food to last for at least another week and didn't need to bother Raven anymore, turning to his door again to smile at Erik with gratitude all over his face.

The man finally took his mask out as he stood under his doorframe, the bridge of his nose marked with a pink line thanks to the facemask, looking at Charles with a calm and relaxed expression, lips curving up slightly in a smile that Charles felt that not even Erik knew he was giving.

"Thank you again, Erik. It was very kind of you."

"Told you, it was no problem. Text me if you need anything, okay?"

"Will do."

When the doors were closed and Charles started storing away the food, already snacking on the cookies that Erik had purchased for him, he couldn't hold back a smile.


	3. Erik

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go again with more softness for the boys because it's what I can handle at the time being and I think we all need some softness right now with everything going on around us. This is the whole intention of this fic after all!
> 
> I also want to thank everyone who commented on this so far for the positive feedback, I appreciate each and every comment that comes my way, it makes me really happy and makes me want to write more which is always nice, so thank you!
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy this!

The next week, Erik didn't wait for Charles to knock at his door when he went to the store to stock up again, texting the man and asking him for a list so Erik could bring it to him once he was back, and soon it became a thing. Everytime, when Erik arrived with the groceries, Charles stayed under his own door frame as Erik sat on the ground next to his own door and started cleaning Charles' stuff. Erik wasn't one to talk much to others, but he found out that the company of his neighbor was weirdly pleasant as they talked away about various things across the corridor to each other.

"I'm so tired of being home all the time." Charles huffed out, expression clearly annoyed while he moved his chair back and forth slightly, showing just how fidgety he was. "I miss my lectures, and seeing the city, and going out for coffee. Sometimes I get the urge to just leave the house and try my luck."

 _"Don't_ do that." Erik warned, raising his eyes from a box of cereal he was cleaning to look back at Charles with his eyebrows up. 

"Oh, don't worry, I care enough for my life to hold back that desire to go out and just do wheelies around the streets of London." Erik snorted at that, shaking his head and seeing Charles smile at him from the other side of the corridor. "But I'll have to leave the house next week, and I don't know if I'm happy that I'll do it or if I'm scared."

"Why will you _have_ to leave the house?"

"Medical appointment. To check everything, you know? I also need my prescriptions..." Charles sighed at that, suddenly looking very tired. "I'm still planning how to do it, but I need to go. My sister used to take me but I deliberately didn't warn her about this one because of my nephew."

"I have a car, I can take you if you want so you don't have to go alone." Erik quickly offered, seeing Charles purse his lips immediately, as if he didn't like the idea.

"You're already doing more than you should for me, Erik. I really don't want to bother you with that."

"I'm the one offering, so you can be sure it's not a bother. I can assure you."

* * *

On the day of Charles' appointment, Erik learned just how stubborn his front door neighbor was. He offered to help Charles into the car once they were on the building's parking lot, and Charles quickly dismissed him by rapidly talking how he didn't need help and do a series of complicated movements to go from his wheelchair to the passenger seat. Erik only watched with his eyebrows up as he did that, snorting at the victorious look the man gave him, smile covered by the facemask he wore. Once the wheelchair was carefully placed on the trunk of the car, Erik was driving out in the streets towards the address Charles had given him.

The whole drive, Charles kept stopping himself from messing with the facemask, clearly annoyed by it and making Erik chuckle a little more at the man, sometimes having to pull his arm away when Charles threatened to pull the facemask too much. It was the first time they had been this close ever since quarantine started, and it was weird to touch Charles' soft pale skin when he grabbed his wrist on a red light to stop him from completely removing the mask.

"You know, if you keep messing with it, it will be of no help." Erik warned once he left Charles' wrist go, seeing the man huff.

"It itches."

"It's the price of seeing the outside world."

"It's a very itchy price." Erik smiled at that.

When they reached the clinic, Charles allowed Erik to help him onto his wheelchair and push him up the small ramp that seemed a little too steep for a wheelchair, walking alongside him once they got inside. He sat down on the waiting room as Charles talked to the receptionist, taking out his phone and groaning at the hundreds of texts from the work group chat, closing them without batting an eye and looking for something to distract himself with before noticing Charles moving to stop his chair by his side, crossing his arms over his lap.

"Everything alright?" Erik asked, seeing Charles nod.

"Yes, they'll call me soon for the exams. We got here right on time." he turned his eyes to Erik finally, the corners of his eyes wrinkling from a soft smile that the mask covered but that Erik knew was there. "Thank you, really… It's actually easier and calmer to do all of this when I'm not alone."

Something in Erik's heart tugged at the soft tone of Charles' voice, and he couldn't help but to smile as well. Before he could answer, a doctor called Charles' name and soon the man was moving away and leaving Erik alone again.

He went back to his phone, looking at the news for a moment to see if there was something important knowing that wasn't the same bad news that he saw everyday now. It was mostly about the deaths from the virus, some political drama happening in other countries — he was tired of seeing Brazil's President on the news so often now with his dumb remarks and dumber actions — and something about a weird baby name that actually caught his attention and made him wonder why someone would do that to their kid, but the news about the virus were the majority either way, so he decided to ignore them for a while. There was no need to stress about the bad news that kept coming at that moment, which led him to open his Sudoku app and pretend the world around him didn't exist.

It took more than half an hour for Charles to come back again, a nurse pushing his wheelchair as he tried his best to stop her from helping him by rolling his own wheels to get away from her grip. It was almost comical how he hated being helped, which made Erik wonder how bad his situation was when he knocked on Erik's door asking for his help with the groceries. Once the nurse was finally done with Charles' tries to escape, she let go with a huff and Charles gestured for Erik to follow him so they could leave.

"So?" Erik asked once they reached the car and he watched Charles move to the passenger seat on his own, deciding that he probably wouldn't want any helping hand after that nurse. 

"Everything's alright. I got my prescriptions and the doctor told me to stay home, which I'm already doing." Erik closed Charles' door once he was inside the car, folding the wheelchair to put it on the trunk of the car again and going to the driver's seat.

"That's good then."

"Very. Can't wait to go back home and do nothing again." Erik chuckled at that, hearing the annoyed tone in Charles' voice.

"We can always talk by our doors when we get back."

Erik turned to look at Charles for a moment after saying that, noticing Charles' blue eyes staring at him with some kind of spark inside of them, as if the idea made him incredibly happy. Erik felt something tugging at his heart again with that look.

"Yeah, sounds good to me."


	4. Charles

They stopped at a drugstore to buy Charles' prescriptions on the way back to their building, and Erik had insisted that he would go alone to buy them while Charles waited in the car. Since the trouble of getting out of the car into his wheelchair seemed like too much right now — his arms slightly sore from his stubbornness in letting Erik help him earlier with that —, he accepted without much of a fight, just a few complaints that Erik was doing too much for him when he didn't need to, which were quickly answered with a _"I'm doing this because I want to"_ from Erik that made Charles shut up.

He watched Erik from the car as the man waited for the medicine, letting himself wonder why Erik was being so nice and thanking whatever deity that would listen for Erik's help. He hated that the man was doing all of that for Charles when they didn't even really know each other properly, he felt bad for it, but he knew he wouldn't be able to do half of what he was doing if Erik wasn't offering his help. It brought a nice feeling to Charles' chest, made him feel better even with everything going around him, to know that there were probably more people like Erik out there.

When the other man finally got back to the car, Charles checked the medicine before smiling at Erik, mouth still covered by the mask, as the man started to drive.

"I feel like I've said it a million times already, but thank you."

"And again, it's no problem." Erik answered, voice relaxed as he watched the road.

* * *

Days later, Charles decided that he wanted to bake something. He was never skilled in the kitchen, his skills were mostly focused on science and writing, but he could bake some recipes without being disgusted by the taste of it. He wanted cake, he decided. Haven't had any of it ever since the quarantine started, and he knew how to bake a simple chocolate cake without messing everything up. Still, he looked for the recipe online, just to be sure he wouldn't put more eggs than necessary — which happened before and he had been mad at himself for his mistake and by the awful egg flavor in his cake — before moving around his kitchen and gathering the ingredients.

He put some music to play as he mixed everything together, humming to a song that he didn't know the name but knew the full lyrics at this point from how much he listened to it on the radio, and he felt slightly better about himself while doing that. It was something different and good to do, and he wondered if he shouldn't try cooking more — he definitely saw a lot of people learning how to bake bread during these weeks of quarantine, he could at least try it.

He put the batter on the cake pan as another song started playing that made him laugh everytime he sang along to the lyrics because it reminded him of Raven's shocked face when she found out that he knew the entire song. The lyrics were more than suggestive and she said she'd rather never hear him sing aloud next to her ever again. He wished he could visit Raven, maybe take some of the cake for her to eat. She usually liked his cakes, said it was the only thing he truly knew how to do in the kitchen, and the thought that he wouldn't be seeing her for a while made him sigh as he put the cake into the oven and set a timer to check on it later.

He turned the volume of the song up a bit more, trying to distract himself and remember that it would be over soon and he would be able to hug Raven and Kurt again — and even shake Azazel's hand since it was the only thing they did to greet each other — before taking his phone and checking the news and the few social media that he still had as he just listened to the song. It was peaceful in a way.

Once the timer went off, Charles smiled brightly again, moving towards the oven as he threw his phone on the coffee table in front of him, testing to see if the cake was fully baked. When he took it out of the oven, the smell of it made Charles smile even more as he set the hot pan over the stove before taking the cake out of it as carefully as possible. It looked good, it didn't burn at the bottom as Charles' cakes sometimes tended to do, and the smell was great. It was almost pitiful how happy he was that he had gotten around to bake a cake and would be able to eat it that day, probably the most exciting thing to happen to him through those last few weeks, but he didn't care.

He took a slice of it, setting it aside to cool and feeling even prouder at how fluffy it looked on the inside. Raven would love that if she could have it. Some part of him really wished that he could share it with someone, and an idea came to mind quickly with that.

Charles went to the living room again, taking his phone and looking for Erik's contact there before typing out a message, hesitating briefly before hitting send.

> I just baked a cake. Do you want a piece?

He felt ridiculous by offering Erik that, knowing he was just desperate for any kind of human contact that he could get and giving Erik a piece of cake would be a good excuse to get that, maybe to talk to Erik for a while across the corridor again as they did once they got back from Charles' appointment a few days ago. Erik probably didn't even want to talk to Charles, he was just being nice, and he waited for the negative answer until his phone _dinged_ with a new text.

> How did you know I was craving something sweet right now? I'll be waiting by my door.

Charles smiled brightly with that, more than a little pleased with the answer and suddenly very excited to see his neighbor again as he bolted to the kitchen to cut Erik a slice of the chocolate cake. He really hoped that Erik liked it. 

When he opened the door, the piece of cake in one hand as he did so, Erik was already standing there, leaning against his door frame with what Charles supposed was his sleeping clothes. His neighbor looked like a mess, but Charles couldn't help but think he looked charming with his hair messy and the look of someone who had just woken up even if it was three in the afternoon. He smiled at the man, who promptly smiled back, and moved in his wheelchair to place the cake on the ground in the middle of the corridor as they have been doing with everything else they shared — mostly groceries.

"Please accept my offering." Charles joked, making Erik laugh in a way that made Charles' chest warm up at the sound as he backed away.

Erik took the cake, looking at it with curious eyes before taking a small piece with his fingers and placing it in his mouth. Charles suddenly felt really nervous of his neighbor's opinion, putting his hands together over his lap and biting the inside of his lip as he waited for a judgement. When Erik smiled and nodded at the cake, Charles felt a little better about himself and his cooking skills.

"It's really good." he said, taking another piece and smiling at Charles. "Thank you for this."

"You're welcome!" Charles couldn't see himself but he knew that the smile on his lips was nothing but bright. "I can cut a bigger piece to give you so you can eat later."

"I wouldn't normally say yes but I will accept the offer. I'm working on one of my projects right now and I like to do it while snacking on something sometimes. The cake will be handy."

"Oh? And how is the project going?"

In the end, they both ended up talking for an hour straight before Erik needed to get back to work. Charles is left alone with half of his cake and a nice feeling inside his chest.  
  



	5. Erik

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!!! I am posting this chapter earlier than I normally would because I won't be updating this fic next week because of the Cherik Week. I'll already be posting 7 new fics, so updating this one is out of the question, but I wanted to give you guys this chapter as a consolation lmao
> 
> Hope you enjoy this! I still don't know when this fic will end but until it does, only softness allowed.

It only took a few days for them to update their talks to a game of chess across the corridor. Erik had the board set in front of him and moved both his and Charles' pieces as they played. At some point one of their neighbors walked past them to get into her apartment, shooting a weird look at the both of them as they discussed one of Charles' moves. Their talks turned from a weekly thing to a daily thing, and Erik kept finding himself growing more and more fond of the professor that lived on the apartment right in front of his.

They had talked about their lives over chess, the amount of time it took for them to make their moves giving them enough time for then to share stuff with each other. Erik had told Charles about his work properly this time, more in depth; about his projects — which now were all almost completed, thank you very much — and about his family back in Germany. He hadn't talked about that stuff in a while, and he didn't even notice how much he smiled while talking about his mother and his childhood, only catching himself once he saw Charles smiling softly back at him from his door. In return, Charles talked about his own work and his passion for genetics — _You have a lovely mutation,_ he had said once, making Erik raise his eyebrows. _Auburn hair, I mean._ —, as well as about his own family. Contrary to Erik's smiles while he talked about his mother, Charles only smiled like that while talking about his sister, refraining from saying much about his parents.

When politics reached the topic of conversation, though, there were many disagreements, and more than often they'd get frustrated at each other's stubbornness. But, even so, it was still nice to talk to Charles and have his company through the days they were still locked inside their own homes. Even their discussions seemed to be pleasant.

One night as they played, Erik turned on the radio, allowing music to play as they kept going with their chess game, pouring himself a glass of wine and sitting with his back leaned against the door frame as Charles had a mimosa in his hands, since he couldn't have much alcohol at all. It took a few hours for Erik to realize how intimate it all felt, even if they were meters apart. Charles had a relaxed expression on his face, blue eyes focused on the board as his lips mouthed quietly the words to the song that was playing, and suddenly Erik felt way too much like that was some kind of date. He took a chug from his wine, pushing the idea away and shaking his head.

"Knight to F3, please." Charles finally said, smiling slightly as Erik moved the piece for him and finally raising his eyes to look at Erik. "So, you were talking about your work friends."

"I wouldn't call them friends, we just _talk."_ Erik shrugged, happy to talk in order to take his mind away from the thought that he was having a date with his neighbor. "Emma is the manager of my sector, so I have to constantly talk to her about everything. I just like her because she's direct and don't bother me half as much as the others there. And Azazel found a loophole where he bothered me _so much_ that I gave in."

"Wait, _Azazel?"_ Charles suddenly said, a frown appearing on his face and making Erik look up at him curiously. "Tall, big and Russian?"

"You know him?"

"He's my brother in law!" he huffed out a laugh after saying that. "He's married with my sister. They have a son."

"Wait, the Raven you talk about is _Azazel's_ Raven? I guess the world _is_ small."

Charles chuckled at that, shaking his head and leaning back against his chair, a little more relaxed, the smile on his lips still letting Erik see his surprise for finding out that Azazel is Erik's friend. This gave Erik the small information that small details, like them being connected by a mutual friend as they were, made Charles happy, as if it was the most incredible thing in the universe. It was a thing about Charles that made Erik feel a warm feeling spreading through his chest, soft and good, even if it was almost stupid.

"You don't seem like a very social person." Charles finally said, breaking Erik's thoughts for a moment. "I'm impressed you're even talking to me then."

"Well, you don't bother me. I'm here willingly." Erik smiled at Charles, and for a second he could swear he could see a blush creeping up the professor's cheeks. 

"I guess desperate times can bring people together." Charles said as Erik moved one of his paws, making him raise his eyebrows at the man for a moment. "We wouldn't have talked if it wasn't for this damned quarantine."

Erik thought about that, knowing that Charles was technically right. They hadn't talked before it all started, only exchanging a few words on the corridors of the building or on the elevator, but Erik never really paid Charles much attention before the day he came knocking on his door. He found himself weirdly grateful for the quarantine then, for meeting Charles, because he didn't remember the last time he met someone he felt so comfortable around like he did with his front door neighbor.

"At least one good thing came out of this whole mess, right?" Erik smiled easily, not even meaning to as he looked at Charles, seeing the man smile back at him, expression as soft as ever.

"Right."

* * *

The day that Erik went out grocery shopping again, he ended up feeling even more like he and Charles were becoming more intimate than Erik had ever been with someone else in his life. He was sitting down at his door with the groceries, cleaning them carefully as he and Charles talked — the normal way things had become between them — when Charles' phone started to ring and he apologized before picking up.

It was Raven, Charles' sister, calling to check up on him. Charles had tried to make the conversation short with his sister to go back to talk to Erik, but soon enough he had told her why he wanted to hang up and Raven basically demanded to talk to Erik.

 _"Are you seriously not gonna introduce me to your friend?"_ she said through the phone, making Erik smile under his mask as he saw Charles' face. 

"You sound very much like a mother right now, and I must remind you that I'm _not_ your son."

_"Right now you are. Show me your friend short stuff."_

Charles had moved closer to Erik's door with a defeated expression, holding the phone up for Erik to see a blonde woman looking at him with an expression that told Erik that she would kill him if he ever thought about doing something to her brother. It felt almost as if Erik was meeting Charles' family for the first time, like he was a teenager seeking for approval of the parents to date their son.

 _"So you're the neighbor Charles talked about."_ Raven stated as she moved her son in her arm as she held the phone with the other. Erik waved at her. _"Thank you for taking care of that stubborn man for me. I can't thank you enough, really."_

"It's my pleasure." Erik said simply, seeing Charles groaning at Raven's words as he still held the phone.

 _"Wait, Erik?"_ a familiar voice said through the phone and soon enough Azazel was on the screen. This time, Erik was the one who groaned. _"Erik!"_

"Hey, Azazel."

 _"You know each other?"_ Raven asked, expression clearly confused for a moment.

 _"Friend from work."_ Azazel explained quickly, making Erik snort as he went back to cleaning the food. He still needed to finish that so he could hand Charles his groceries after all. _"You're the one who's helping my brother in law?"_

"He's my neighbor."

 _"What a coincidence. Have you asked him on a date yet?"_

Erik widened his eyes, staring at the phone as if he could strangle Azazel through the device as he heard Charles choke and almost drop the phone to the ground. As Raven and Azazel discussed something — with her son babbling on the background as if he was part of the conversation —, Charles and Erik stared at each other for a moment.

Charles' cheeks were red and Erik could see that the flush made his ears red as well. Erik was pretty sure by the way that his face was burning that he was blushing as well, his only barrier from Charles seeing that being his facemask. Azazel wasn't aware of what Erik could call a crush on Charles, which meant he was only playing around — unless Azazel knew something that Erik didn't. Still, it became awkward quickly.

The subject died down after Charles went back to talk to his sister and Erik put his focus into cleaning the Cheerios box in his hand as if the object was super important. When Charles hang up the call, they stayed in silence for a while, and Erik finally finished cleaning Charles' groceries and put them on the corridor for him to take. There was an awkward energy around them as they did that, as if they had never talked before and were seeing each other for the first time, and Erik worried that Azazel's words had costed him one of the only friends he made willingly and the man that Erik found out he enjoyed talking and being around.

As Charles was about to close his door and leave Erik alone, he called Charles' name without even thinking about it, his mouth acting before his mind had a chance to stop him. The other man looked at him with curiosity in his eyes, still slightly tense about what had happened, and Erik forced the words out before he could think and stop himself.

"Would you like it?" he asked, hands closing into fists as he realized he didn't know where to put them. "A date?"

Charles didn't answer for a while, only staring at Erik and trying to see if he was being serious just by looking at Erik's eyes. Under the face mask, Erik pursed his lips, thinking that he dug himself a deeper hole than Azazel already had. He expected Charles to refuse — hell, he didn't even know if Charles even liked men! — so he was surprised when he saw the small smile on the other man's lips and the redness that spread to his cheeks.

"I'd like that."


	6. Charles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm back with another chapter after a while! 
> 
> I know it took me a while to update it but I have to say that I'm not really sorry for the time it took. I had Cherik Week from June 1st to June 7th so I had 7 fics to post, which made writing for this fic harder, and I also had a problem related to my mental health and writing anything this happy and fluffy wasn't happening while I went through all of it so I had no inspiration and it's one of the causes of this chapter having taken so long to come out.
> 
> Having that said, I **don't** know when the next chapter will come out because unfortunately it'll depend solely on my mood, but I don't intend on giving up on it, maybe just more spaced posting for now on as I get me back to my feet. Hopefully you guys understand that!
> 
> Without further ado, enjoy this soft thing!

Charles knew it was a bad idea to allow Raven to talk to Erik on that call. His sister had a weird ability to make him embarrassed in front of other people as if she was his mother, and maybe it was because Charles and Raven's mother never really been one to them. It had always been only Raven and Charles, and more than often Raven had taken care of Charles when he needed, even if Charles was _'the responsible one'._

When he suffered the accident that costed him his legs, however, Raven had been the one who took care of him in the beginning of his recovery, had been the responsible one and helped Charles get himself back together, even if he had to adapt to his new reality. And, after his little sister _became_ an actual mother, it seemed to get worse, and suddenly both little Kurt and Charles got treated almost the same, which made Charles almost scream most of the time even if deep down he appreciated Raven's care for him.

The moment that Charles told Raven about Erik, she filled Charles with questions about the kind neighbor that was helping her brother survive the quarantine, and Charles had no option but to answer those questions unless he wanted Raven to drive from her house to his apartment to meet Erik personally and ask him everything that Charles didn't answer. 

_"You have a crush on him."_ Raven had said through a video call a few days earlier, one eyebrow up as she stared at her brother through the screen.

"No, I don't!"

_"Please, Charles. You're smiling as you talk about him the way you do when you like someone."_

The conversation didn't keep going because Raven was making lunch and almost burned the food completely by forgetting that she was cooking at all, making Charles pity Azazel and Kurt for being stuck with Raven's cooking skills for the entirety of quarantine — even if his weren't much different. Even so, Charles couldn't help but to think about her words and, yes, maybe he had a crush on his front door neighbor now. He ended up telling Raven that, only making her look smug about being right, but she allowed Charles to rant about Erik for a while on why he liked the other man, leading Charles to believe even more that this crush existed with each little thing he revealed to Raven.

He didn't think that she would say anything to Azazel about this, and yet his brother in law simply asked Erik if he had asked Charles on a date, which meant Azazel knew more than he should. The argument that followed Azazel's words between him and his wife only proved to Charles that since he was able to hear Raven grunting a _'why would you say that after everything I said?'_ before he spiraled into a nervous state.

Charles thought he would faint from how nervous he got after that, not knowing what Erik would think about the whole situation, and was surprised by an also very nervous Erik asking him on a date. When the pandemic started, Charles really didn't think he would end up going on a date with someone, let alone with the man who lived right across from him, and yet there he was, getting ready to meet Erik in a few minutes.

They had discussed about what they should do since they couldn't go out to a date, which meant they would either be in one of their apartments or on the corridor like they had been doing for the past weeks. After a small comment from Erik that he knew how to cook, it was decided that they would make dinner together and watch any movie with low ratings that they could find on Netflix, which was Charles' suggestion since he loved doing this and ranting about the shitty movies he managed to find — Raven was still mad at him for ranting for two hours straight about some Christmas movie Charles decided to watch just because it looked like one of the bad ones.

Normally Charles would be scared of being so close to Erik due to the pandemic going on and the fact that he was on the risk group for it, but Erik had the trouble to get tested and the results came negative; plus, Charles knew the care Erik took to prevent himself from catching the virus, which calmed his fears down a bit. Besides, he was excited for the date. It had been years since he had gone out with someone that he genuinely was interested in, and the excitement mixed itself with nervousness as he thought of the many ways that night could go wrong. Maybe he would burn the food — he had a talent for burning food and ruining pans —, maybe Erik would realize that Charles wasn't that interesting, maybe he would just not show up at all.

As Charles buttoned up the last button on his shirt, he looked at himself in the mirror and pursed his lips at his own thoughts, telling himself to stop being so pessimistic about this whole thing. Erik had just texted him saying that he was almost ready to go there, and there was no reason for Erik not to come now. He fixed his hair a bit before getting out of his room and going to the living room to wait for his neighbor to come over, his fingers constantly tapping against the armrest of his chair as he waited. When the doorbell rang, he almost bolted towards the door, desperate to open it, but managed to calm himself down and moved at a normal pace, smiling up at Erik when he _did_ open the door. 

Erik didn't have the mask on this time, his smile showing as he stood there with some ingredients in a basket on his hands that he would need to cook whatever he decided to cook for them that night, and he looked _gorgeous._

In reality, there was nothing different about Erik that night, except of course for the fact that he was on a date with Charles, and maybe that was enough to make him even more attractive in Charles' eyes. He was just wearing a grey shirt a under red plaid one together with jeans and boots, which almost made Charles feel too dressed up with his blue button up, not exactly that casual, but Erik didn't seem to mind for what Charles could see in his neighbor's looks at him, and he raised the basket for a moment, his smile growing a little bit. 

"May I come in?"

Charles wanted to think of a pun for that, something clever to be able to catch one of the chuckles that Erik sometimes gave him that Charles thought were charming, but his brain could only come up with an excited "Of course!"

At that, Erik moved carefully towards the small kitchen of Charles' apartment, placing the food and what Charles thought were spices on the counter, carefully taking them out of the basket. He looked taller than he was next to Charles' kitchen furniture, thanks to the fact that everything was changed to be accessible for Charles' usage, but if he thought that it was annoying, he didn't say as well, which Charles very much appreciated. 

"Have you picked a movie for later?" Erik asked, eyes rising to look at Charles and giving him another smile, grey eyes shining with something akin to giddiness. Charles could only smile back at that.

"I was hoping you'd help me to pick one. Hopefully one I didn't see because I don't think I can sit through the ones I did again." Charles grimaced and Erik chuckled, making a nice feeling go through Charles' body.

"What if it's a good bad movie?"

"That's half of the existing movies."

"You have a point." Erik shrugged, moving to the sink and bending down slightly to wash his hands. "Do you want to start dinner?"

"Please," Charles replied, already moving towards the small space of the kitchen and looking at everything that Erik had placed on the counter, eyes shining with curiosity and wondering if Erik was really that good of a cook as he claimed to be. "I'm already starving."


	7. Erik

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back and I bring to all y'all more of their date together, too many words on Christmas movies and something more at the end of this one ;)
> 
> Thank you to all of you that have been patient, I'm still not 100% with everything happening around me but I'm doing a lot better, which helped me to write this chapter. I still can't promise consistent posting but I'll still try my best to not take too long to do it. Hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Erik loved to cook. It was one of the few hobbies that he had picked up years ago and that he cultivated into something he could call good. Back when he lived with his parents, when he first picked up the habit of cooking simpler stuff, his mother was always reluctant on letting him cook, specially because of one memorable accident where Erik didn't put enough water into the pressure pan and there was food all over the kitchen, including the ceiling, when it exploded — thankfully with no one near to get hurt in the process. It took a few years for Edie Lehnsherr to fully trust her son with the kitchen and with the food, but when she did, Erik would always smile and blush at all the compliments coming from his mother and even from his father when he managed to get the food just right. So cooking with Charles on a date was extremely comfortable for him, specially because he could see Charles admiring his work as he moved through the kitchen, and Erik couldn't deny that he liked the admiration.

However, the fun part of it all was actually seeing how distressed Charles became while trying to help Erik, and how bad Charles actually was on the kitchen. He had proof that Charles could bake a really nice cake, the one that he had given Erik a piece of a few days ago was actually really good and tasty, but Erik wondered if that was where Charles' talents in the kitchen ended as the man almost cut his own finger off trying to cut vegetables in a way that almost made Erik cringe. After that, Erik was in charge of using the knife.

"I'm not good at this." Charles confessed, his cheeks getting redder as he moved his eyes away from Erik in embarrassment. Erik only smiled gently at him.

"Not everyone can cook, and it explains why I always buy you so much canned or frozen food." Charles grimaced at that. Erik only chuckled. "I've been doing it ever since I was a child. I don't suppose your family was one for making special meals together on the weekends..?"

"God, no. My mother never stepped inside of the kitchen or touched a stove in her life for all I know." Charles shook his head, embarrassment going away slowly at Erik's reassuring words. "Neither me or Raven were taught how to cook ever. She buys recipe books to this day and says she'll learn how to do it. She never did."

"I guess now I know why Azazel is constantly ordering food." Charles laughed at that, making Erik smile as well.

In the end, Erik ended up doing most of the cooking, although he didn't really care about it. Charles watched with interested eyes to every movement that Erik made in the kitchen, seemingly impressed at how fast he was able to cut the vegetables and the meat that would go in the dish, or how he was able to not spill anything as he mixed the ingredients, which was very amusing to Erik.

When he put the rice on the stove and left it to cook, Erik decided to try to teach Charles how to cut the vegetables from before without being a hazard for himself while doing it with the leftover food, grabbing both of Charles' hands and showing him exactly how to do it, and the blush on the other man's face was reward enough for Erik. He didn't even realize what he was doing at first, the action seeming way too natural for him, and he couldn't say that he regretted it after it happened, specially not when he was able to feel the soft skin of Charles' hands under his own as he tried to teach the man a basic movement with the knife. Charles was still bad at it when he finished his lesson on cutting food, but at least now he knew the best technique and hopefully would keep his fingers intact if he decided to do it by himself someday, and Erik had managed to stay closer to Charles in a way that he hadn't been before.

When the kitchen was clean and there was only the few other things of Erik's recipe cooking on the stove, making the whole apartment smell nicely, they started looking for a movie on Netflix, Erik's attention divided between the food and the titles on the screen.

"We could watch a Christmas movie." Charles shrugged, blue eyes watching the screen as he went through the titles. "They're as bad as it can get."

"There must be a good Christmas movie, come on."

 _"Home Alone_ maybe… And _Die Hard_ if you count that as a Christmas movie." Charles said, smiling and sparing a glance towards Erik at that. "But then there are movies like _A Christmas Prince,_ which Raven still fights me about because technically, to her, that would be Jesus. So in her mind the main character in that romance is actually Jesus."

"It's a _Jesus-romance_ movie?"

"Not in the slightest."

"Pitty. I'd watch it if it was."

They ended up settling for a shitty action movie that made them both laugh at it just with the trailer — although there was a promise for a bad Christmas movie on another night so Charles could prove his point —, and Erik was back in the kitchen to finish off their dinner.

There was a certain nervousness as Erik served them the food, now finally finished and smelling divine according to Charles, and he waited for the other man to give him his opinion, wondering if Charles would actually like it. At the first bite, Erik stared intensely at his _neighbor/friend/date_ and waited for a reaction that came rather quickly. When the food touched Charles' tongue, his blue eyes widened in a way that didn't really make Erik feel reassured of his cooking abilities, but the moment Charles' eyes turned to him, the reassurance came as he saw the shine in his eyes and the pleased expression.

 _"Holy fuck-"_ Charles said, mouthful, almost spitting the rice as he said it and covering his mouth with a napkin that was next to them, making Erik chuckle and blush at the reaction. "Sorry- fuck."

It took a moment for Charles to get himself back together, giving Erik time to take a bite of his own food himself, agreeing with Charles that the dish had turned good and smiling to himself proudly. 

"That's so good! Bloody hell, Erik... I might break into your apartment now just to steal your food."

"A threatening compliment. I see you really liked it."

"I did. This is great. And I almost blew it by almost cutting my finger and spilling my blood all over the chard…"

* * *

Later that night, Erik was sitting with Charles on the couch that the man explained earlier was Raven's in a way, since the girl used to sleep there constantly before she got married to Azazel and gad claimed the piece of furniture for herself. In fact, most of the furniture was there only because of Raven and her constant visits that only stopped because of the quarantine. He wasn't much for using the couch since his chair was comfortable enough and the process of transferring his body from chair to couch and couch to chair was laborious, but he wanted to make company to Erik on the small couch and Erik wouldn't refuse it. Besides, Erik could help him do it since he was there.

"I don't like people carrying me like this." Charles said once he was in Erik's arms, being placed on the couch carefully, grimacing at his own words. "But strangely enough, I don't want to scream at you for doing it."

"I'll count that as a victory." Erik smirked, making Charles smile back at him. "Specially considering I'll probably have to do it if I have to ride you somewhere again like I did for your appointment."

"I'll try my best not to complain too much about it in your ear."

After that, Charles' legs were covered by a soft red blanket and his head had fallen on Erik's shoulder at some point through the movie. Meanwhile, Erik had an arm around Charles' shoulders, keeping him close, and he could feel the warmth of Charles' smaller body against his, which made him constantly lose his focus on the movie. They would talk through some scenes when something ridiculous happened, laughing together at the bad movie and making Erik agree that it was way more fun to do that instead of watching an actual good movie to spend the time, only making Charles look more proud of himself.

For a moment, Erik thought that it would stay like this, just the two of them enjoying each other's company and the nice feeling after a good meal — which Erik really wouldn't complain if that was the case, it was really good as it was —, but, when the movie was ending and they both laughed at another ridiculous situation, there was a moment of them staring at each other, and he could see the split second that Charles eyes moved to his lips before moving up to stare at Erik's eyes again. That was the moment where Erik realized how much he wanted to kiss Charles, how much he wanted it for a while now.

"Can I kiss you?" he finally asked after a few seconds, leaving room for Charles to say no, and he noticed the other man's cheeks growing red with the question right before he nodded, consenting to the kiss.

So Erik leaned his head down a bit, lips touching Charles' as softly as he could, feeling how soft they were as he pressed a bit harder at them, hearing Charles sigh and melt by his side. It was a chaste kiss that ended too soon, but Erik could still feel the ghost of it on his own lips, as he looked down at Charles again, seeing the man smile up at him before Charles' hand cupped his cheek and pulled him back down for another kiss, this one less chaste but still soft and careful, both of them still testing this _thing_ that had grew between them.

At the end of the night, when it was ridiculously late and they had talked a lot more after turning the tv off, Erik leaned down once more to kiss Charles goodbye, seeing the man blush but smile like a child at the gesture before they exchanged their goodnights. When Erik finally laid on his own bed and looked at the ceiling, ready to sleep, he couldn't help but to smile to himself with the memories of what he could argue was the best date he has ever had in years, and it was with the man who lived across a hallway to him for years now.


	8. Charles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at that, I managed to finish two chapters easily this time lmao Have one of them now for the time I spent without posting, with more soft Cherik and Charles having to deal with online classes.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy it!

Charles groaned for the thousandth time that morning as he tried to figure out how he would be able to teach a class with thirty students about genetics online, without being actually able to see all of their faces, which was something that Charles thought was needed for him as a professor.

The university had sent in the memo the night before that the classes should be resumed remotely on monday, and it was now Saturday morning, which meant Charles didn't have much time to get used to his new reality. He knew the subjects he would have to teach like the back of his hand, but he surely didn't know how to adapt it to online teaching or how to use the platform that the uni had offered to their professors. All he knew was that he needed to learn and adapt fast, even if the prospect of giving a lecture in front of a camera for his students made him antsy.

It wasn't like he hadn't done video calls for academic purposes before, Charles had given many online lectures in events all over the world, but his classes were something sacred, where he wanted to interact with his students properly and be able to read the room to know if the lecture was working on the class or not. Online, knowing who was paying attention to him or not was harder, and he would certainly miss that.

After another groan, he gave up on battling against the subject for the meantime, moving to his kitchen to see what he could make for breakfast, and was surprised by a knock on his door. It took him a while for his brain to understand why there was someone knocking on his door at the unholy hour of ten in the morning — which was Charles' waking hour after the quarantine allowed him to sleep more in the mornings — until he remembered that he had agreed to have breakfast with Erik that Saturday morning. 

"Fuck." he eloquently said, realizing he was still on his pajamas, but opening the door anyway.

Erik was standing there looking as gorgeous as ever, in casual clothes and with that small secret smile that Charles convinced himself was just for him. Charles noticed the exact moment where Erik raised his eyebrows at Charles' clothing choices, and he just sighed and moved to let Erik inside.

"Sorry, I forgot to change this morning."  _ And to comb my hair, _ Charles thought right after, wanting to groan as he remembered that his hair was still the mess that it was when he woke up.

Thankfully, Erik didn't seem to mind, placing their food on the table — he had insisted to cook for Charles again after their date — and smiling down at him with some kind of amusement in his eyes. The moment that Erik unwrapped their breakfast, Charles' mouth started to water and it was almost enough for him to forget that he looked like an absolute mess. Brownies and cheese sandwiches. Nothing incredible, but they smelled good and Charles was hungry.

"What was on your mind?" Erik asked, batting Charles' hand away when he tried to steal a brownie from the pile Erik had brought. "Wait until I make the coffee."

"Those look good and I'm starving." Charles tried again. Another slap on his hand.  _ "Ouch." _

"You're hardly starving. Conversation first. Where are your manners, Xavier?" Erik raised his eyebrows, the smile on his lips showing how amused he was, and moved to Charles' coffee machine to start brewing their coffee. 

"Probably inside the brownies." Charles smiled, seeing Erik chuckle at his insistence, but didn't try to steal the brownie again. "Classes are coming back. Online. I'm supposed to go back to work in front of a computer now."

"That's good, isn't it?" Erik was leaning against the low counter now, arms crossed over his chest and looking at Charles. He looked gorgeous in the morning light. "You're the one always complaining about how you miss giving classes."

"Yes, but I prefer them to be presential." Charles shrugged. "There's a difference between talking to a room full of people and talking to a camera where people can see you. For example, I won't know when they're zoning out completely now."

"It's still better than doing nothing, isn't it?" Erik argued and Charles sighed, nodding.

"I guess so."

* * *

Breakfast was great, both the food and the company was something that Charles loved on that Saturday morning, and of course the kiss he got from Erik was an added bonus to all of that, making him smile like a child whenever he remembered that the breakfast had been another date — their second date now in less than a week. Who would've thought that his love life would take off during a global pandemic.

A few hours later, Erik kindly offered himself to help Charles learn how to use the website he would need to use now to give his classes, and he couldn't be more grateful for his neighbor/friend/date/boyfriend(?) — he wasn't sure yet — being good with these kinds of things. 

"I used this to a meeting from work last week." he had explained as he tried to show Charles the features. "It's not that hard. If Azazel did it, you can do it too."

* * *

On Monday morning, to be sure Charles had understood everything right and to help him in case of any technical difficulties, Erik had gone to his apartment again, and this time Charles was dressed properly in his work clothes. The breakfast that day wasn't brownies and coffee, it was toast with eggs — slightly burned, courtesy of Charles — and boxed orange juice. Erik didn't seem to complain as he ate, which for Charles was a small victory.

Having Erik there was actually a big help for his first online class, using Erik as a way to see if he was being clear or not when he started his lecture and basically forcing Erik to listen about genetics at nine in the morning. As he suspected, not many people kept their cameras on, and the silence from the microphones turned off wasn't the same of the silence of a classroom whenever he was talking. It felt more like people weren't there, but he kept going anyway, hoping that that wasn't the case. Behind the computer, Erik seemed genuinely interested in his words, frowning a bit at some things that Charles said that he probably didn't understand but also looking incredibly interested in a few of the topics, which gave Charles at least a little hope that he was doing alright.

Thankfully, a few minutes into the class, a few people started asking questions, which made him feel better about the situation —  _ at least _ a few people were actually paying attention. When the morning class finally ended, he closed the call with a sigh and looked up at Erik for some kind of approval, receiving a charming smile back.

"You did well. And you look great while teaching."

Charles blushed violently at that, receiving a chuckle and a kiss to the cheek for it.


	9. Erik

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost didn't post this chapter today because I was busy all day with my birthday and stuff BUT I managed to get a moment to edit (although I'm sure there's mistakes here and there that always escape me) and post this chapter! I think you guys are gonna like this one ;)
> 
> I wanted to thank all of you for all the support you guys are giving me on this small thing, it reached 2k hits and 100 kuddos/comments in a blink of an eye and I'm always impressed at that because from all of my fics, this one wasn't the one I was expecting to grow so much ajdnns I'm glad you guys like this tooth-rotting fluff.
> 
> Enjoy ❤️

"Mama, lower your phone. I can only see your forehead again." Erik said to his phone with an amused smile on his lips as he watched his mother struggle with the video call.

When Edie came into view again, there was a sour expression in her face as she stared at her own device, probably cursing it for being such a bother as she tried to speak to her son. Erik smiled wider at that, wishing he was able to take a flight and go visit his parents back in Germany so he could see Edie's sour face in person when he did or said something that would surely be rewarded with a warning look — which never worked because it only made Erik more amused at the situation since he was saying or doing something to _get_ that reaction.

 _"As I was saying,"_ Edie said to bring Erik's attention back to her words. _"your father is very stubborn. He keeps wanting to leave the house."_

"Is he leaving the house?"

 _"Of course not. I took his keys and he's constantly locked inside now. My orders."_ Erik snorted at his mom's words, imagining poor Jakob Lehnsherr trying to steal his keys back. On one hand, Erik pitied his father. On the other hand, he was grateful that Edie did that. It was safer for the both of them. _"What about you? Are you staying safe, Schatz?"_

"I am. I only leave to go grocery shopping or when my… my friend needs something."

 _"A friend?"_ and Erik immediately regretted ever mentioning Charles when he saw the shine in his mother's eyes through the call, her excitement from Erik's words making the camera once more rise and now only the top half of her face was visible. _"Which friend? From work? You didn't tell me about a friend. Why do they need you to leave the house for them?"_

"It's a long story…"

_"I have time."_

He wondered how much he should tell his mother. If he should fill her in on the whole dating thing and how _friend_ was too little to describe what Charles was to him at this point — even if Charles was, indeed, his friend —, and what would her reaction be. He could never tell with Edie, not when the subject was 'Erik's partners'. She would either love that her little boy (he was taller than her) found someone to love or she would hate the poor soul that would dare come close to her son. The only thing that Erik appreciated about it was that she didn't discriminate by gender; whoever you were, there was a random chance that Edie Lehnsherr would hate you if you dated Erik, which made him wonder if she would like Charles at all, but he realized that, if things with Charles escalated, then he would have to tell her anyway.

In the end, the call ended with a threat from his mother that, if she didn't meet Charles in the next week or so, she would find a way to get over to London by herself to do it, and, considering Erik knew his mother very well, she wasn't kidding. At least she seemed eager to meet Charles, and the chances of her actually liking him seemed higher now.

He didn't even lock his phone after the call ended, going over to Charles' number and typing a text quickly, knowing that it would take a while for Charles to answer considering that he was probably giving a lecture at that exact time.

> My mom wants to meet you.

It took an hour for Charles to answer back, and Erik — having one of his lazy mornings — hadn't even moved from his seat on the couch when the text arrived, his attention moving from the YouTube video he was watching to the notification on the top of his phone.

> Oh. You told her about me?

There was a slight terror that creeped into Erik's thoughts with that phrase, his jaw clenching and lips pursing as he typed back an answer.

> I wasn't supposed to tell?

Instead of text, Erik saw an audio arrive from Charles, which meant that he was either too lazy to type at the moment or would drag Erik through the dirt for having told his mother about him with only two weeks of their first date. Luckily, it was the first case.

 _"Sorry, I'm tired so I'm just going to speak; No, it's not that you weren't supposed to, I was just… Surprised that you did."_ said the audio, Charles' voice actually making it easier for Erik to see that he was being sincere and allowing him to hear how soft Charles actually sounded. Deep down, Erik hoped that it was because he liked the idea of Edie wanting to meet him.

* * *

At night, Erik took his chess set to Charles' apartment, as well as a bottle of scotch he had bought a few days earlier. There was some pop song playing in the background — and Erik was still trying to understand Charles' obsession with pop songs — as they made their moves. It was an improvement from playing across the corridor like they did on the first weeks of them talking to each other, Charles now more comfortable and trusting that Erik was taking whatever measures necessary to stay clear from the virus, and it allowed Erik to look at Charles more closely now that they weren't meters apart, each look giving Erik a new thing about Charles that made him feel his chest warm up.

"How are the classes going?" Erik asked after a few minutes of silence, Charles' blue eyes raising from the board to look at him then.

"Fine. Some people are actually participating now. A few are even people who didn't talk in my classes. I think the video call makes them more comfortable." Charles smiled, making Erik smile back. "I still miss being inside a classroom, but _I guess_ that I'll have to make do with what I have."

"Are they still taking screenshots of you?" Erik looked up to see Charles' face with the question, pleased as he saw the blush creeping up on the other man's cheeks.

Apparently Charles had a few admirers in university amongst the students, and the online classes helped those souls to screenshot their beloved professor's face and spread the pictures around. Charles had been mortified when he leaned that through another professor who was friends with him, one Moira MacTaggert, and Erik had laughed and looked at the pictures on Charles' phone that Moira had sent him. He couldn't deny that Charles' students managed to get some good screenshots, one of the pictures even making Erik's heart swoon with the smile on Charles' lips as he was explaining something from one of his classes.

Erik had been there when Charles gave a thorough talk with his afternoon students about why that wasn't a nice thing to do and asked kindly for them not to do it anymore. If Charles' students were like Erik, he was sure that there were new screenshots going around at that exact moment from the day's class, specially since Charles was wearing his lilac sweater that made him look even better than normal — at least in Erik's eyes.

"Not that I know of." Charles finally answered, making a move on the board and making Erik's smile widen. "Stop with that smile. They are my students! It's embarrassing!"

"Maybe I like it when you're embarrassed. Ever thought of that?"

"Am I hanging out with a bastard then?" and there it was, the smile on Charles' lips that never failed to make Erik smile back.

"Takes one to know one."

They stayed quiet for a moment more after laughing at Erik's comment, the song changing to an older one, more soft and calm, less full of sexual innuendos, than the pop song that was playing prior to that one — which only made Erik wonder what even _was_ Charles' music taste, because he really couldn't tell — and after a while Charles finally talked again.

"You said your mother wanted to meet me?"

Erik raised his eyes once again to his neighbor/friend/date/boyfriend(!)(???) — they really needed to clear that out — and saw the way Charles' face was soft with some kind of hopeful glint in his eyes, sharing space with fear. Fear of what, Erik didn't know, so he just nodded in affirmative to Charles' question. A small smile, barely noticeable, appeared on Charles' lips.

"What did you even tell her?"

"That you're my neighbor and that were going out." Erik shrugged, giving a simple answer instead of saying that he said absolutely everything they did ever since they met to his mother. "And that we met because you needed me to go grocery shopping for you."

Charles stayed quiet for a minute more, eyes on the chess pieces as if he was planning his next move, but Erik had already seen enough of Charles to know that chess was not what was in his mind. He didn't press to know Charles' thoughts, taking a sip of his scotch again and just waiting. Charles did move a piece, but it seemed to be an excuse for the silence considering that the piece he moved wasn't the best play he could've done. Erik heard the other man sigh and saw a nervous smile appear on his lips.

"Do you think she would like me?"

Erik smiled at that, keeping his eyes on Charles'.

"I'm sure she will love you." and Erik could hear his mind completing that statement with _'I know I do'._


	10. Charles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've reached chapter 10 and I still have _no idea_ how long this fic will be lmao. This is the biggest chapter of all of them, it's the first one to reach 2k words, oof! Hope you guys like this one, and once again thanks for the support on this! It warms my heart to know people are enjoying it that much ❤️ Next chapter is Edie meeting Charles so stay tuned for that next week (if everything goes right) ;)

_ 'I'm going there with Kurt' _ was all the warning that Charles got from Raven in the morning. There was a moment where Charles couldn't really understand what those words meant, but, when he did, he typed a quick and full of typos text telling her that it wasn't a good idea. All he got back was a  _ 'too late, Kurt's already strapped in the car and I'm turning the car on' _ before Raven stopped answering his texts. He sighed loudly at his sister's actions and started getting ready for the day — he still had a class to give, Raven being there or not.

Although he was still worried about his sister and nephew, there was a warm and comfortable feeling in his chest knowing that, after so much time, Raven would be there again, and he couldn't help but smile as he ate his breakfast and got ready for that morning's class. His smile only grew after he realized that he wouldn't have anything in the afternoon so, if Raven stayed, they could spend the entire afternoon talking away.

She arrived at his door a few minutes before his class started with her hands full with what looked like a highchair, bags with frozen meals — which meant she intended on having lunch there and knew that Charles or her in the kitchen wouldn't be a good idea — and other snacks as well as food for Kurt, and Kurt himself. The baby made a happy noise behind the mask he wore when he saw Charles, trying to jump from his mother's lap to his uncle's, making Raven have to catch the little boy quickly so he wouldn't fall. 

"No, little guy. Shower first, hugging uncle Charles later." she said as she started to enter the house and put everything in the kitchen so she could go with her son to the bathroom.

When both her and Kurt were showered and with different clothes from when they arrived, Raven started cleaning the food she brought as Kurt played in the living room on a small mat that Raven brought for him while Charles gave his class. At some point, Kurt started rolling around — which apparently was how he moved around according to Raven, he hadn't quite figured out crawling yet —, looking at Charles as he talked and letting out a myriad of baby noises that sometimes coincided with the times Charles asked a question, making the professor hold his laugh everytime.

After a while, Kurt got to Charles' chair and got up on his feet with a lot of difficulty, making Charles completely lose his focus on the lecture to scream excitedly at the child, scaring not only Kurt but also his students. He wasn't expecting Kurt to stand up, although he knew that it had been four months since he had last seen the baby and he knew Kurt had grown a lot. He apologized quickly to his class as Kurt recovered from the spook and started saying  _ 'ba-ba' _ at Charles and waving his hand without much coordination while the other hand was still keeping his body up by holding onto Charles' chair. Charles was pretty sure that Kurt meant  _ 'bye-bye', _ which only made him want to laugh even more.

He was surprised it took so long for a student to ask if he had a baby, to which he quickly explained was his nephew and ended up picking the seven month old up and showing him proudly to his class. His students complimented little Kurt as the baby started again with his tries of talking before laughing out loud at the computer screen, making Charles' heart melt. He had a suspicion that a screenshot of him hugging his nephew would be going around his students after that day, but it wasn't like there was much he could do.

When the class was over, Charles took that time to play with Kurt, delighted with each laugh that the baby gave him and each broken word that he still struggled to say, as Raven heated their lunch.

"He's so big." Charles marveled as Kurt clapped in his lap — his new learned trick — and Charles clapped back at him, making the baby scream in delight.

"Yes, babies tend to grow, you know?" Raven teased, hands on the counter and giving Charles a teasing smile. 

"Oh, shut up. I mean that he grew up  _ so much _ in just four months…" Kurt clapped again. Charles clapped back. Kurt tried to get Charles' hand in his mouth.

"He's doing well for his age. Prodigy child. Can't believe he got that from you." 

Kurt ate his lunch in his highchair with Raven and Charles, making a mess of his food as Raven tried his best to show him how to properly use the spoon he was given, receiving back deep frowns from Kurt as he looked at his mother. In the end, they all ate well and Raven left Kurt in Charles' bed to take his nap — surrounded by pillows so he wouldn't roll over the bed by accident — and they went to the living room. That was the moment they truly started to talk, and Charles knew that his smile never left his face as he and his sister caught up on what had happened in their lives so far, face to face now. He had no idea how much he missed Raven.

"Before I ask you about your boyfriend-"

"He's not-" Charles cut Raven off, feeling his cheeks blushing. "We don't- I told you we haven't talked about what we are yet, Raven."

"Charles, you two spend so much time together... And you said he talked about you with his mother and that she wants to meet you." she pointed out, taking a sip of her orange juice in a wine glass. "Maybe you two haven't labeled it yet but I have."

"Wow, thanks." Charles shook his head, taking a sip of his juice himself, still feeling his cheeks on fire.

"Anyway, let me finish. Bad news first before you tell me about the prince charming next door. Sharon called me a few days ago."

Charles frowned at his sister, seeing her shrug. "Why did she call you?"

"She still doesn't have your number, and the idiot here forgot to change hers and never give Sharon it again. She sounded drunk as always, kept asking about our lives. Probably looking for something to call us out on."

"And what did you tell her?"

"That I have a husband and a son, that I am not getting drunk and letting my son fend for himself like she did, and that you are thriving as a renowned professor and have a boyfriend now."

"Raven!"

"She choked the moment I said boyfriend." Raven let out a laugh, making Charles snort with her as he imagined his mother's reaction. "I was a little jealous because she  _ almost _ choked when I said I had a son, but with you was the full on choking. In conclusion, she still despises us."

"Old news." Charles raised his glass for a toast, seeing Raven grin and do the same, the soft  _ clink _ of the glasses filling the room before they took a sip of the juice. "Sorry you have to deal with her still. Next time give her my number and change yours. I feel like I owe you to receive some Sharon-calls."

"I wouldn't wish that for my worst enemy, let alone my older brother." Raven chuckled, making fun of the situation even if both of them had weird smiles on their faces as their childhood came back to them with the mention of their mother. "But, now that the bad news are on the table, tell me about the good ones!"

"Well, I'm giving classes again-"

"I said good news."

"That's good news for me!"

"That's because you're a nerd!"

Charles threw one of the pillows next to him at her, lightly as to not hit the glass in her hand, and she only laughed at that.

"But also me and Erik are seeing each other more." he couldn't help the dumb smile in his lips at that. "Last night we cooked together again. Cookies! There are some in the fridge for later if you want."

"That man was a blessing in your life, brother. Cookies? Please marry him." Charles chuckled, shaking his head at Raven's words. "And neither of you talked about what you are yet?"

"No… Not yet. I'm trying to get my courage to ask but I'm always afraid he doesn't want to be a thing." a sigh left his mouth at that, looking down at his own hands before he spoke again. "I really like him."

* * *

Raven was having a shower after Kurt managed to get her completely dirty with his food that afternoon while Charles had the baby in his lap and tried to distract him with his favorite storybook that Raven had brought with her. It was a small story about farm animals, and Kurt seemed to be paying attention to each of Charles' words as he read it, when he heard a knock at the door. Both Kurt and Charles looked at the direction of the noise. 

He allowed Kurt to hold the book for him, the baby quickly trying to take the hard covered book into his mouth to scratch his itchy gums, and went towards the door to open it, seeing Erik standing on the other side.

"Hey, sorry, I think I left my-" Erik seemed to notice the baby in Charles' lap then, frowning and getting caught off guard as Kurt looked up at him with curious eyes. Charles snorted at that. "You… Oh, wait, that's your nephew."

"Yes, it is." Charles confirmed, seeing Kurt offer the book to Erik, probably still wanting to have the story read to him.

Erik didn't seem know what to do for a moment, hesitating before going for the book slowly. Kurt changed his mind as Erik was almost getting the book that was offered to him, taking the object back to his mouth as Charles tried to not let him bite it. Erik raised his eyebrows at the baby before looking at Charles, who laughed out loud.

"What's he doing here?" Erik asked, receiving a  _ 'Da!' _ from Kurt as an answer. Erik seemed amused then. "Oh, really? Tell me more."

Kurt seemed to understand perfectly what that meant, starting to babble away as Erik pretended to understand everything. Charles had always been impressed with Kurt's nature of being comfortable around others. The conversation ended, however, when the baby decided that his itchy gums were more important than Erik.

"Raven came to visit." Charles finally answered, a smile on his face as he moved the baby so he wouldn't slip from his lap.

"Ah, I see." Erik nodded, smiling down at Kurt as he and Charles fought about the book in his hands. "Sorry. I just came by because I think I forgot a bowl here yesterday."

"I think you did. It's in one of the cabinets of the kitchen. Come in!"

Erik smiled down at him before entering and going to the kitchen to look for the bowl as Charles tried to keep Kurt from jumping from his lap and going to Erik when he saw the other adult entering the house. Charles started reading the story again, the baby quickly stopping fussing and listening closely to Charles talking. In the kitchen, Erik watched everything, and Charles started to feel himself blush once he noticed that.

"Now I'm clean again. Thankfully I knew this would happen and brought an extra- Oh, it's you!" Raven said once she got into the living room again, pointing at Erik.

"It's me." Erik confirmed, smiling at Raven. "Nice to meet you face to face."

"And he's a gentleman! Charles you outdone yourself this time."

"I will kick you out of the apartment, sister."

"You can't, I have a baby."

"The baby can stay, he's not annoying."

"Bah!" Kurt agreed.

"I'll be on my way, found what I was looking for." Erik shook the bowl on his hand for Charles to see. "I still have stuff to do from work. How's Azazel doing?"

"Stressed. One of the reasons I came here today. He needed his space to work without a baby begging for attention for a while." Raven shrugged.

Charles watched Erik and Raven talk closely, half expecting Raven to say something that would make him want to throw another pillow at her like had happened earlier. To his surprise, they seemed to be getting along really well as they talked about Azazel and Erik's work. On his lap, Kurt started to try to get his attention back. 

"Will you be here for dinner?" Erik asked Raven after a while, walking towards Charles now. "I could make something for the four of us if you'd like."

"I told Azazel I would bring dinner so unfortunately this will have to wait. And when I say unfortunately I mean it, I heard your food is really good."

Erik chuckled at that, getting to Charles and lowering his body to place a kiss on the top of his head that made Charles blush instantly under Raven's gaze. She looked like she would explode with happiness for him.

"What about you?" Erik asked. "Dinner tonight again?"

"I'd like that, yes." and if Charles' voice had broken there for a second, he wouldn't admit.

Erik smiled widely at that, running his hand through Kurt's hair for a moment in a way to say goodbye that made the baby look up at him with a frown as he tried to understand why Erik had just touched him. Everyone chuckled at that reaction.

"See you later then."

When Erik left and they heard his door close across the corridor, Raven turned to Charles immediately.

"Boyfriend." she stated, making Charles roll his eyes.

He ended up smiling anyway at the idea.


	11. Erik

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, look at me posting in time! All because it's fluff and I have been listening to the new Taylor Swift album on repeat the whole day and it just gave me enough inspiration for this chapter. This is 100% one of my favorite chapters for this together with the last one with baby Kurt. I just like writing those two being sweethearts for once!
> 
> Really hope you guys enjoy this one! Also, Edie will be back in the next chapter with Charles' perspective of things ;)

Erik learned two important things about Charles on the Sunday he told the other man that his mother would call later that day to meet him. The first thing was that Charles was great at concealing that he was nervous if you didn't look close enough at him. They spent the entire day together on Sunday, Erik had cooked them lunch and Charles once more had almost praised Erik's ears off for the food — which only made Erik secretly more proud of himself as he ate, trying to hide a winning smile at the other man's words —, and during the entire day Charles was all easy smiles and sweet conversations. There wasn't much that would give Charles away on his nervousness if you weren't looking for it.

The second thing he found out was that Charles would burn his nervous energy on various things. He watched Charles go to his room and back multiple times for no reason at all except from moving a little during the entire day, or he would clean things that were already clean and fix things that didn't need to be fixed. Erik picked up on small things Charles started doing after the news of the call with Erik's mother, like how he was now constantly cleaning under his nails or pinching the space between his thumb and forefinger. He also seemed to space out a little more through the day than normally. Even so, those things would only seem weird to people who tried to look for them, and Erik was surprised at himself to find out he was actively looking at Charles, memorizing even the smallest of his habits and constantly finding himself growing fond of them.

The idea that he had become so enthralled with Charles in such a small amount of time was weird to him. He never had been one to get so close to someone so fast, but maybe it was the fact that they had been talking ever since quarantine started, slowly growing closer as the months passed. He wondered if the circumstances were different they would end up the same way. If Charles hadn't knocked on his door months ago, would Erik even notice the other man properly? Would he be having a calming day on his neighbor's/friend's/boyfriend's(?)(!)(??) — Erik hadn't gathered the courage to ask and Charles certainly hadn't mentioned anything — house? Or would he be in his house watching television and ignoring the existence of a world outside his apartment?

As he watched Charles doing the dishes from lunch and humming a soft melody to himself, he found out that he didn't want an answer to those questions — maybe just the boyfriend one, that one he wanted to know. He was happy with the path it all took, the events that lead him to be half sitting, half laying on Charles' couch with the other man on the kitchen humming softly, the sound of Charles' voice and the water from the sink filling the house with a calm and domestic feeling.

When Charles came back to the living room he had a wet patch on his shirt and a smile on his lips as he looked at Erik, that nervousness still there but buried under the sweet look in his eyes, blue as the skies on a sunny day. Erik couldn't help but smile back.

"When's your mom calling?" Charles asked, pushing Erik's legs off of the couch so he could move himself there. Erik tried to help, only to have Charles batting his hands away as he now sat on the couch.

"She said she's waiting for my father to finish something around the house so she can call when there's no noise around." he took advantage of the fact that Charles was now on the couch to pull the other man to him, making Charles rest his body on his, and seeing as a pink flush filled Charles' cheeks. Erik smiled at that. "So probably in a few hours."

Charles hesitated for a moment before making himself comfortable, resting his chin on Erik's shoulder as he looked up at him and took the hand that Erik draped around his waist in his own, the blush on his cheeks still there.

"He's still making _improvements_ to the house?"

"My mom complains but she actually loved the indoor garden he made." Erik smiled at that, fingers mindlessly brushing against a patch of skin that was visible on Charles' waist where his shirt raised. It felt soft under his fingertips. "She just likes to complain sometimes. It's part of Edie Lehnsherr's charm."

"Do you think she'll complain about me?"

The question came out quietly from Charles' lips and Erik almost didn't hear it. Charles was smiling with no real humor behind it, his nervousness finally fully showing as he considered the idea. Erik frowned at his words and expression, turning a little more towards Charles and placing a soft kiss on the bridge of Charles' nose, making Charles sigh softly with the affection. Erik couldn't really seem to stop doing those things, from the kiss on the man's head when Raven was there earlier that week to other kisses or small touches he kept leaving on Charles' skin. There was a quiet urge to just keep giving Charles those soft caresses that usually made him blush in shame hours later when he was alone again at the thought that he was going soft thanks to Charles. He felt himself want to blush for a moment, pushing the feeling back to look into Charles' eyes.

"I think she'll like you." Erik finally said, and a small smile appeared in Charles' lips, thankful this time.

"Sorry... I don't really have much experience with meeting someone's parents." Charles grimaced at that, taking Erik's free hand to play with his fingers. Erik had found out Charles liked doing that recently, just touching Erik's hand and tracing the lines calmly. It always made Erik's heart jump in his chest. "I think the last time it was with a girlfriend from college."

"And how did it go?"

"Oh, they didn't like me very much. I was a little more, uh, _reckless_ back then, so I don't really blame them." Charles frowned then, looking up at Erik for a moment and making Erik raise his eyebrows at him. "Now that I think of it, she was jewish as well."

Erik snorted at that, shaking his head. "So I guess you already have experience in meeting a jewish mother."

"It wasn't a good experience."

"Second time's a charm."

"That's not how the expression goes."

"It is now."

Charles relaxed a little bit with the light conversation, even if it still was about what he was nervous in the first place, and Erik smiled down at him, feeling his heart skip a beat as Charles snuggled a little closer to Erik, his head now fully rested on Erik's shoulder as he looked up at him. In Erik's opinion, there was no one more beautiful than Charles at that exact moment, and the fact that he was in Erik's arms made him smile out of fondness. He wasn't sure he ever smiled that much before Charles.

"Is there anything I can do to calm your nerves?" Erik asked, seeing Charles grin slightly.

"A kiss would be great."

"No need to ask twice."

* * *

Charles had changed his shirt under the excuse that he didn't want to meet Edie wearing his grey sleeping shirt, and soon he was coming back to the living room wearing only shorts and an Oxford shirt — something that he did during his classes as well and never failed to make Erik laugh. Erik obviously teased him for a moment, receiving a light punch on the arm for that, even if Charles was smiling at him. The smile threatened to disappear when the ringing on the notebook started, Edie's name on the screen, waiting for them to pick up the video call.

When Erik picked the call after getting confirmation from Charles that he was ready, Edie was looking back at them with the most expectant face he had ever seen his mother have when it came to meeting one of Erik's partners. He also saw the exact moment when her eyes shined as she saw Charles there, who was smiling at the screen with all the confidence he was battling to keep. And just like Charles, Erik noticed that his mother had dressed up a little bit, her curly hair loose when it would normally be up in a bun or ponytail for her to work around the house without the hair being on her face and a very nice shirt that she wouldn't choose to wear at home. That was new. 

_"Hello!"_ Edie was the first one to say something, making Charles' smile grow a little bit. _"You must be Erik's boyfriend, Charles."_

Erik stopped at that, eyes widening, and he saw that Charles' eyes widened as well. He didn't remember saying anything to his mother about Charles being his boyfriend — did he let the word slip by accident when he talked to her? _Oh G-d…_ —, and suddenly Erik was still as he waited for Charles' reaction. The other man stumbled on his own words for a moment before he took a deep breath, gathering his words and going back to that formal persona, as if he was about to give a lecture, if only a little bit more casual.

"Yes, it's me." he confirmed, something in his voice showing the pleasure he felt as he confirmed it. Erik felt his heart skip a beat as Charles did it. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Lehnsherr."

_"Oh, no 'Mrs. Lehnsherr' here my dear. Call me Edie."_


	12. Charles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! It took a while but I finally managed to finish this chapter yay! Had a big writer's block recently but I think I'm getting the hang of it again so hopefully next week there'll be another chapter. Thank you for keeping up with the long spaces between chapters and I hope you guys enjoy this one ❤️

Charles was pretty sure he was vibrating with happiness ever since the call with Edie started, but if his expression was a tad bit overjoyed, the woman didn't say anything.

_ 'You must be Erik's boyfriend', _ Edie had said first thing into the call, and Charles wanted to yelp from the title. Did Erik call him 'boyfriend' to his mother when talking about him? Did his mother only assume it? Probably, due to the way Erik froze in his place when she had said the damned word; In any case, Charles had confirmed it, trying to not look so eager for saying he was Erik's boyfriend. 

It was ridiculous, Charles was a grown adult, and yet he couldn't help but to look at Erik as the talk with the man's mother happened and think  _ 'that's my boyfriend'. _ He could punch someone right now, or just scream at the top of his lungs in relief to know Erik wanted to be his boyfriend. He suddenly had a lot of energy to waste after this. The last time he felt like this was when his thesis was approved and Raven had to deal with an overjoyed sibling and also stop him from getting himself blackout drunk the whole night, saying on the next day that  _ 'happy Charles Xavier' _ terrified her. He had to admit that this time it felt way better, and Raven would probably have to deal with him calling her later and talking nonstop about it over the phone.

_ "So, Charles," _ Edie said after a while of her and Erik talking about something he didn't really pay attention to.  _ "You're a professor?" _

"Oh, yes. I teach genetics. Lifelong passion."

_ "That's incredible! Smart and charming, Erik really got lucky." _ Charles blushed deeply at the compliment, hearing Erik groan slightly by his side.

"Mama…"

_ "I'm not lying, am I?" _ Edie challenged. Erik closed his mouth.  _ "That's right. Anyway, you only teach genetics?" _

"Yes… But I do have a PhD in biophysics too and I'm currently thinking about getting another one for psychology."

"You didn't tell me about the psychology PhD." Erik said, frowning slightly and looking at Charles.

"It's a recent decision, I'm still considering but I'm pretty sure I'll try it at some point in the future."

"Nerd." Erik said under his breath, getting a backhanded slap to his arm from Charles, who smiled at him when he saw the playful smile in Erik's lips.

_ "Your family must be very proud of you." _ Edie said then, smiling at the two of them on the computer's screen.

"Ah, well… My sister is. Although she calls me a nerd too when she gets the chance."

_ "And your parents?" _

Charles grimaced at that, unable to stop himself. He saw that Edie noticed that she had said something wrong, her expression changing to one of worry, and Erik got closer to him. If Erik's closeness was conscious or not, Charles didn't know, but the slight touch of Erik's arm against his own was enough to make him smile again.

"My father is not around anymore and my mother is… complicated. All I can say is that she is not very thrilled at my success." Charles gave her a dry smile, taking a deep breath before pushing his mother away from his mind. "But the family that matters is very proud of me, yes."

_ "Then that's good enough." _ Edie smiled softly at him through the camera, and Charles couldn't help but smile back. Mrs. Lehnsherr seemed to be a sweet woman, and it warmed Charles' heart that she apparently liked him.  _ "I can't wait to be able to visit both of you and-" _

A loud breaking noise was heard from Edie's end of the call, the woman turning around to look behind herself and both Erik and Charles frowning at it until a few seconds later a loud curse in german was heard and Erik snorted by Charles' side.

"What did he do this time?" Erik asked as his mother turned back to the camera while shaking her head.

_ "I think he broke a few flower pots just now." _

"Oh Lord, is he alright?"

_ "Don't worry about it, Charles. Jakob does that all the time. Thankfully Erik didn't get his father's clumsiness." _

"No, I got your short temper."

_ "I don't know what you're talking about." _ Edie waved her hand at the camera, clearly dismissing Erik's words and making the man smirk. Charles smiled as well, enjoying watching how they got along. God only knew he didn't know what it was like to get along with his mother, and it was sweet to see how Edie and Erik's relationship worked.

They kept the talk going, Charles now less nervous about Edie as they went and sometimes wondering if he wasn't talking too much like he tended to do sometimes, oversharing or just talking for hours on end without a pause whenever he felt comfortable enough around someone, but Edie didn't seem to mind it, smiling at him and laughing at the few jokes he dared to make. The whole time, Erik leaned against him, a soft presence by his side that made Charles want to turn his head and kiss the man's face all the time, holding himself back for Edie's sake.

At some point, Jakob appeared behind Edie and smiled at him and Erik, face with a few dirt stains and his clothes not much better as he held a gardening tool in one of his hands. Charles quickly noticed how much Erik looked like his father — same eyes and smile, but Erik seemed to have his mother's traits when it came to personality.

"Are you settling down this time, Erik?" Jakob said and Erik visibly choked. Charles only widened his eyes a second time that day.

"That's, uh. That's too early to know." Erik evaded the question, both of them seeing Jakob shrug before he left to keep his work around the house after saying a few quick goodbyes.

Somewhere during the call, Edie managed to start showing Erik's childhood photos through the webcam and telling Charles about Erik as a young boy. Erik was thoroughly embarrassed as she told him about everything, while Charles encouraged the woman to keep going, laughing and smiling the whole time.

"Oh, it was really nice meeting you, Charles." the woman said once they decided that they had to end the call. Charles smiled widely at her.

"It was my pleasure, Edie."

When the house was silent again, Erik stretched his legs and grunted at the amount of time he spent sitting down. Charles took the moment to stretch his back a bit, only noticing Erik's looks at him a few moments later. He looked worried about something. Charles only raised his eyebrows at him, waiting for him to say something.

"I'm sorry for my parents' forward questions." he finally said, expression serious and apologetic. "They sometimes do that."

"Ah, don't worry, darling. It's alright."

Erik nodded, standing next to Charles for a moment before a minimal smile appeared on his lips.

"So," he started, crossing his arms with a pleased expression on his face. _ "boyfriend?" _

Charles shrugged, trying to look unaffected by the word even if he felt that happiness from earlier bubble inside of him again.

"Unless you don't want to be labeled-"

"I do." Erik answered quickly, his face flushing immediately. "I mean, I- I don't mind."

"Me neither."

"Good."

"Good." Charles smiled up at Erik, seeing the man smile back. "Should we make dinner then?"

"I'm starting to think that you keep me around because I can cook."

"It's a mutually beneficial agreement, isn't it? We both get something out of this." Charles said, a smirk on his face as he started wheeling himself over to the kitchen to see what they could have for dinner. He could hear Erik following him. "I get good food, you get to look at my cute face, that's a win for both of us."

Erik laughed then, loud and clear, making Charles smile proudly at himself for managing to get his boyfriend — _ his boyfriend! _ — laughing with his words, and soon there were hands on his shoulders and soft lips pressing a kiss to his overgrown hair.

"I guess you're right. Looking at you does make my day better." Charles blushed, suddenly losing the cockiness over the compliment, and he could feel the smirk in Erik's lips. "Now,  _ boyfriend, _ get out of the way so I can cook you something."


	13. Erik

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I managed to write something for this again! And once again is just plain fluff of them being dumbly in love with each other like they deserve (I put all of the fluff here and save nothing for my other fics apparently 👀). Hope you guys enjoy it ❤️

Erik couldn't have foreseen how weird it would be to sleep with Charles for the first time. Not bad weird though.

In the time they've been together and going to each other's houses constantly, none of them had offered for the other to stay, mostly because they lived just one hall away from each other, so going back to their house late at night felt normal — the excuse of  _ 'it's too late for you to go back home, you should stay' _ didn't work for them.

One week after they had made official that they were boyfriends, they were playing chess in Charles' living room like they got used to doing now, staying up late just to finish a game — when Charles didn't have classes the next day, that was. It was late once their game ended, Erik smiling at his victory as Charles told him that he was just lucky to have won that game, making Erik only smile more at his boyfriend. He helped Charles to put his things away around the house, placing a kiss to the man's lips before starting saying his good night's, when Charles looked up at him as if he had something to say. Erik had learned to read those looks already, only raising an eyebrow at Charles and waiting for him to say something.

"You could stay." he suggested, a slight blush appearing on his pale cheeks, probably from embarrassment at his suggestion. "I mean, you'll come back for breakfast anyway in the morning… It's okay if you don't want to, but maybe it would be more convenient?"

Erik saw the telltale signs that Charles was nervous with his answer, which was always incredible to see considering Charles Xavier was one of the most confident men he had ever met, and yet with Erik he seemed always wary of saying the wrong thing. He couldn't really blame Charles, not when he did the same thing.

A small smile appeared on Erik's lips and he nodded. The way Charles' face lit up at the confirmation made Erik's heart skip a beat, and he himself felt stupid for that. He wasn't one for falling like this, but it was hard not to appreciate everything about Charles, especially hard not to feel something when his blue eyes looked at Erik with bad concealed happiness.

"I'll get some clothes and will be back. Sounds good?"

"Perfect!" the smile on Charles' lips was wide and it made Erik chuckle slightly.

True to his words, Erik grabbed his pajamas and clean clothes to wear the next morning if he felt like taking his pajamas off, stopping only to brush his teeth quickly and taking the brush with him before running back to Charles' apartment, finding the man transferring himself to the bed. He already had been in his sleeping clothes ever since Erik arrived in his apartment earlier;

"You don't even dress for me anymore." Erik had said playfully earlier that night as Charles snorted at him. 

"The only time I dress for something is when I'm giving my classes, and I'm starting to consider my pajamas for them as well." he answered, running a hand through his hair to take it out of his face — he was long overdue for a haircut. "Unfortunately I think the university wouldn't be happy if I did that."

Now, as Charles made himself comfortable on the bed, Erik only watched him from the doorframe, an almost unnoticeable smile on his lips as he couldn't help but to feel that warmth that he always felt filling his chest when it came to Charles — he was finally getting used to the feeling, and he couldn't deny that he liked it. Charles chuckled, embarrassed, looking at Erik with his eyebrows raised.

"Are you just going to stand there and watch?"

"I could. I like watching you."

"Oh, shut up." Charles turned his face away, cheeks now bright red as he tried not to smile with Erik's words. He loved making Charles blush like that. "Go change and come to bed."

"Your wish is my command."

Charles threw one of the pillows on the bed at him when he saw the grin on Erik's face, making Erik laugh out loud and throw the pillow back at the bed before going to the bathroom to change his clothes, still unsure if Charles would appreciate him just changing in front of him. 

When he left the bathroom, Charles was already under the covers with his phone in hands, frowning at something on the screen — probably some article, since he was the kind of person to read those before sleeping — and blowing at the few strands of hair that kept falling over his eyes, too concentrated to even move his hands to take it out of the way. It was hard for Erik not to feel fond when he was able to witness those little things about Charles that only  _ him _ had the chance to witness. He felt lucky for that small fact.

Erik climbed the bed quickly, getting under the covers and quickly running his hand through Charles' hair to take it from his face. Charles smiled at that, putting the phone away to look at Erik as he made himself comfortable by his side.

"Hi." Erik said, making Charles huff out a laugh.

"Hi. Nice seeing you here."

"You come here often?" that earned Erik a laugh and a light slap to his chest from Charles, making Erik smile widely.

They didn't sleep quickly, talking to each other even after all the lights were out. Erik couldn't even see Charles' face anymore, only hear his calm voice in the dark and feel the warmth coming from his body next to him, but he loved each second of that talk. The soft words exchanged in the dark felt more intimate than anything they had ever done together. When they said goodnight to each other, Charles nestled very close to Erik's body now, Erik didn't manage to sleep right away.

His eyes moved to his boyfriend who slept softly by his side after a while, the sound of his breathing filling the room and his face calm and soft as he slept. Erik's eyes had gotten accustomed to the darknes in the room enough to be able to see Charles' face almost clearly now. His lips were parted, hair stubbornly falling over his closed eyes, chest rising and falling calmly, and Erik couldn't help thinking how weird it felt to watch Charles sleep.

Charles wasn't vulnerable in any way when he was awake, and yet there he looked soft and calm — contrary to his normal agitated self most of times —, and Erik couldn't help but stare for a moment before he looked away, feeling his cheeks burn for watching Charles so intently while he slept. He wasn't lying when he said he liked to watch Charles; he couldn't help but want to know everything about the other man, to remember where every freckle was placed or the way he looked when he slept. He had seen Charles many times now, almost every day ever since the start of quarantine, but seeing him never felt old; there was always something for Erik to find out and make him even more enthralled with Charles.

He only managed to sleep minutes later, when his eyes felt heavy, giving Charles one last look and pulling him a bit closer before falling asleep. 

In the morning, he woke up with Charles' eyes on him, making the other man blush at being caught, completely unaware that Erik had done the same the night before. Erik smiled at that, his body slowly waking up.

"Good morning." he managed to say, voice rough from sleep and taking a smile out of Charles for that. 

Charles' hair tickled his face when he moved and lowered his face to kiss Erik's lips softly, making Erik's heart beat faster with it. Charles' face remained close when he parted the kiss, allowing Erik to really look into Charles' blue eyes, taking in their color and the way they were looking down at Erik.

"Good morning. Slept well?"

"Very." Erik nodded, raising his head to catch Charles' lips again, hearing the man chuckle at the kiss. "You?"

"Woke up too early because I am not used to having someone else on my bed."

Erik frowned, looking at the clock by Charles' bed and checking the time, raising his eyebrows at the other man as he saw the hour.

"It's eight in the morning."

"It's Sunday!"

Erik moved to make Charles lay on his back quickly, taking a surprised yelp from the man as he hovered over Charles' body with a playful smile on his lips.

"Charles Xavier, you lazy man."

"Oh,  _ please. _ We both know I'm  _ not _ a morning person." Charles wrapped his arms around Erik's neck after moving his hand to apparently fix Erik's hair a little bit, looking very pleased with the position they were in and making Erik smile down at him. "I only wake up early for you."

"Such a sacrifice..."

"It is. I could be asleep right now."

"Instead you're awake and hugging me. Isn't that good enough?" a spark crossed Charles' eyes just then, pupils getting slightly wider as he looked up at Erik and a grin appeared on his lips. 

"I guess. It would be better if you were kissing me."

Erik snorted but took the bait, kissing Charles and feeling him smile against his lips, hands pulling Erik as close as possible. As they kissed and held each other, Erik was sure that breakfast would be served later that Sunday morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And then they had sexy times and a lovely breakfast hehe Until next chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kuddos are always appreciated!
> 
> Find me on [tumblr!](https://hellfre.tumblr.com/)


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